


Undoing

by MysticKid



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Flash Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 09:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3483059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticKid/pseuds/MysticKid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Non-winning entry in onceuponafans.com 's "Read Between the Script Lines - Flash Fiction Contest"<br/>From S2E22 "And Straight On 'Til Morning" Set between Gold nearly murdering Henry & hearing news of Neal's 'death' …and the scene with Hook, Greg, & Tamara setting off the curse in the mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Undoing

Henry couldn't help but notice his grandfather stiffly walking past on his way back into town. The news of Neal's death had hit him just as hard as it had Henry. Now the two had something in common as never before. A terrible something. He broke free from Emma's embrace and ran to his grandfather, the man who he'd always only known as Mr. Gold. The boy that was to be Gold's undoing locked his arms around his grandfather's waist quietly sobbing. The hand that moments before had contrived to be the boy's undoing now found comfort in comforting him. 

It had been such a long time, but still how familiar it felt, how much like his own, his Bae, Henry seemed. This was so much like when his son needed him to reassure, protect him, from… 

No, it was he, the coward, that needed Baelfire —not the other way 'round. He needed a son so that he, Rumplestiltskin, could be the father his father had never been. Just like it was he, the monster, that needed Belle to be Belle; so that he could be the man she still, after everything, saw in him. 

His thoughts mercilessly whirled in on themselves. Was it selfishness that had made him bargain all of their chances for happiness away? Well, was it? Was this the finish of that first desperate deal he hadn't understood —now about to come full circle and destroy everything and everyone?

"Bae was right not wanting anything more to do with me. Now Belle, too, flirts with my bargain's ruin," Rumple mused, hugging Henry still closer. "Better she never knows what's to come, never remembers who she was before nor the price she's had to pay since…" 

"Who?" The boy struggled a little, not quite managing to look directly up at him. "…for loving me," he finished distractedly. Had he said all that aloud?

Gold could feel Henry warming into his heart, changing it and him. Nearly as strong as true love's kiss is the kindness of a child. But he hardened against it, not wanting to lose his resolve for what was to come. Belle would turn against him anyway, wouldn't she? He could see it somehow, in one of those possible futures that always danced just out of reach before him. …But in none of those tomorrows was Bae ever supposed to die! How cruel a gift is prophecy when it only reveals its true nature in hindsight! "End it now. Better this way. Better for everyone. All over." he murmured flatly. 

Those words, if not Gold's strangely vacant expression, alarmed Emma. At her approach, with Snow and David close behind, Gold startled, looked about wildly, then down at Henry in a sudden fit of horror. He shoved him roughly back at Emma as he writhed away from all of them: "Get away from me! GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!"


End file.
